Government statistics classified imports into three categories: project-aid
financed, commodity-aid financed, and commercial. In constant dollars,
project-aid imports rose from US$141.6 million in 1977 to US$152.9 million
in 1982, and commodity-aid imports increased from US$20 million to US$89
million during the same period. These two forms of imports were not broken
down by the government into specific commodities. Project- and commodity-aid
imports were far fewer than commercial imports. Commercial imports constituted
64 to 72 percent of total imports during the 197782 period. These commercial
imports doubled in value during this time, reaching US$695 million in
1982. The overall commodity composition changed little, unlike exports.
Imports of manufactured goods, such as textiles, yarn, and paper products,
increased in value steadily, but their share of the total commercial import
bill fell from 28 percent in 1977 to 23 percent in 1982. At the same time
imports of machinery and transport equipment quadrupled, and their portion
of total imports rose from 11 percent to 32 percent. Imports of mineral
fuels and lubricants more than doubled in value and represented 14 percent
of commercial imports in 1981, up from 12 percent in 1977. Food imports
more than doubled during the period, but their share of the total import
bill remained about 14 percent. Much more food was brought into Afghanistan
under commodity assistance. The value of chemical imports rose little,
and thus these constituted only 4 percent of the 1982 commercial import
bill, compared with 9 percent in 1978

These imports were vital to the Afghan economy. Most of the country's
food consumption was supplied by domestic production, but wheat imports
from the Soviet Union in the 1980s were thought to be at least 200,000
tons annually. They were averting serious shortages in the government-controlled
cities. In addition, imports from the Soviet Union supplied most of the
sugar consumed, and Indian tea met all domestic demand for tea. Imports
also satisfied most of the country's nonfood consumer goods demands, and
import laws were relatively liberal. Finally, imports provided almost
all capital and intermediate goods upon which its nascent industry depended.
All of the refined petroleum products came from the Soviet Union, as did
transport machinery. Factory machinery came from all over Eastern Europe.

Afghanistan's gradual integration into the Soviet sphere was easily observable
in the shift in the supply sources for its imports. During the mid-1970s
bilateral trade agreements with members of the Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance (Comecon) provided from 25 to 33 percent of Afghanistan's imports;
of these the Soviet Union supplied 21 to 38 percent each year. After 1978,
however, the share of the Soviet Union more than doubled, so that by 1981
it provided about 65 percent of Afghanistan's imports. Bilateral deals
with Eastern Europe provided 68 percent of the total commercial and aid
financed import bill.

Meanwhile, imports from Afghanistan's Western trade partners declined,
as did their share of the Afghan import market. Japan's share fell from
19 percent in 1977 to 9 percent in 1981, the Federal Republic of Germany's
(West Germany's) from 7 to 2 percent and Britain's from 4 to 2 percent.
American imports, which had been as high as 12 percent in 1973, fell to
less than 1 percent in 1981. At the same time, imports from Afghanistan's
two main regional trading partners also declined in significance. In the
mid-1970s Pakistani imports accounted for 3 to 5 percent of total imports
into Afghanistan; in 1981 they constituted only 1 percent. India, which
had supplied 5 to 10 percent in the 1970s, provided only 2 percent in
1981. By the 1980s Soviet products dominated the Afghan market for all
sorts of goods ranging from tractors and vehicles to soap and fertilizer.